My Thanksgiving post

I posted this on several of my more active author yahoogroups.

Happy Gobble Gobble Day to those in the US. Those in Canada... your Thanksgiving makes much more sense.

On many blogs I've seen people posting what they are thankful for this season.

So.. it might sound sappy - but here goes.

I am thankful for our family and friends. Last year in OZ we realized how much Thanksgiving means family and friends with so many back in the States. Now this year we are with friends but now we miss our OZ friends that we made.

I am thankful that so many writers share their talents. I can't imagine doing more than writing short pieces and the engineer in me is stymied at the wonderful descriptions that lets my imagination soar to worlds. I am thankful for the time that authors take to keep in touch with their fanbase.

I am thankful for each day. Life is precious and even if every day isn't wonderful we have the chance to work to make it better. Waking up to the possibilities brings a smile even when reality weighs heavy.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Voting for the first time..

No, not me. :)

When I went out for my run on Tuesday I looked over and saw the parking lot at the fire station where we vote filled. I cut my run short, showered and got our middle one up and over to the polls.

I've never seen our polling station so busy. It was amazing. We got there at 6:23 (yes.. time from a cell phone amazing things) and left the station after 7:15.

I finished the process before our middle kidlet and walked to stand in line and chat. He said that the station looked much smaller than when he would come and vote with me. I laughed and pointed out that he has grown and that the station was packed. I've never seen it so busy.

It felt very special voting with him as a first timer. Although being a cynical teen the comment was in NJ our vote wasn't that important.

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I was checking on 270t0win.com, realclearpolitics.com and fivethirtyeight.com every day.

Unlike my sibling I didn't stay up until the results came through. I was exhausted and stopped watching the websites around 10ish. I did go look at the results when I was awake at midnight. :)

Now the hard part begins, getting our nation back on track.

Let's hear it for brakes...

Yes, I would love to hear it for brakes. If the person behind us last night had used hers a tad better we would not have had our accident. Boo hiss.. our poor Camry. On the good side no one was injured. On the bad side our new car has to get body work.

This was after watching our friend's son in a fantastic production of Frankenstein. It is the first time it has been produced by a high school production and the writers and such went to watch the production and were WOWed. Slight problem with the monster's wireless microphone so his first big scene and song were a tad hard to hear.

Middle kidlet passed the permit test and went out with dh driving. Hmmm.... watch out.

On the good side, I've been out and running regularly. I've done between 2-3 miles. What is nice is on weekends I don't have to run around the block as I do when I'm here with the kidlets alone. I won't go too far and want to be in easy walking distance if they need me.

Big kidlet got bad news about a co-worker from camp. Not sure of the particulars other than another friend passed away. I slightly worried and would like him to talk to someone up at school.

I won't be home when he gets home next weekend. I'll be in Boston with the middle one and the youth group. I get to chaperone. Best part... I'll get to see The Blue Man Group. :)

I'm in print

Here's a link to a story that I'm in. Wow. An AP story so who knows where it could turn up. Life is better our new executive director started yesterday. Things are looking up.

Giggles...

Okay, I wasn't giggling when I first found out why my mom didn't call me but thinking about it now I'm smiling. I hadn't been able to reach my mom all week. Tuesday her line was busy which was to be expected it was her birthday. I tried on Wednesday.. no answer, I tried Thursday night .. no answer. I left a message to to give me a quick call because I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Friday... I tried - answering machine again. Left another message to call me on my cellphone. Tried yesterday in the afternoon. Now I'm really worrying.

I finally got a hold of her today on the way back from Parents' Weekend. I hear. Well, I couldn't call. Excuse me? Well, I'd have to drive down to town to get a hold of you? Now I'm really confused. Why? That is where my cellphone will work. Work? To call you, I need to use my cellphone. Ummm.. no.

I had to explain that a cellphone is like any other number. One can call it from a landline or from another cellphone.

Shakes head but at least I'm smiling now.

Best foot forward for the new year

It was nice being home in our familiar setting for Rosh Hashanah.

Oh.. middle kidlet doesn't have a "broken" foot but is on crutches and a boot for a severe sprain and contusion. His school was sooooooo sympathetic. Could you be off your crutches by Wednesday - after all it is only a sprain. UGH.

No disasters - only no security because either they can't read their letters or it never made it there. I'll have to call on Thursday. Middle kidlet did do the walk down with the past presidents and youth group board members. No, he didn't carry a Torah but processed with his fellow youth groupers.

Today we hear youngest blow the shofar. Fingers crossed. He's good. I'm hoping he can "hit" those sounds.

Well.. have to go get ready.

oh.. why the title to this post? Middle one told someone up on the bimah he as putting his "right" foot forward for the new year. (That is his good foot.) He says it was gravity ninjas that hurt him. :)

Worse than a Jonah Day

Sigh... right when you think things are on an even keel... the balance shifts and BOOM. Felt pretty good when we left the Temple this afternoon that things were under control. Not perfect but okay.

As I was leaving to go shopping with the youngest I hear a boom from upstairs. Run back in the house. Middle kidlet tripped over stuff in the bedroom and hallway and lands on ... yes... the right foot. Is being handled by dh and go off to the mall. With a call home I hear things are okay so we shop for jeans and sneakers.

I get home and I see middle one glum with ice on the foot and upstairs dh is trying to deal with the cable company. N either are happy campers. I thought things were okay but middle one goes NO.. I thing I broke it. Dh leaves a message for our doctor. Love our doctor.. who gets back in touch and says bring kidlet in. Yes... it probably is broken and x-rays are needed. Either sit in the emergency room for hours or wait and go first thing in the a.m. but... the spanner in the works in kidlet has make up state exams in the a.m.

He is so unhappy. I know that life has not been the greatest after his girlfriend decided she wanted a boyfriend closer to here. Not that we are miles but they do go to different high schools. Middle kidlet has been handling this very well but now is going to pieces since a broken foot is going to impact his job that starts in two weeks.

I get home and fall to pieces about thinking about trying to get to the radiology and everything to together for Temple. Dh is now at the hospital with middle kidlet to wait for xrays.

Some stress gone but HEAVY sigh.

The Week that was (continued)

Let's see to continue.

Wednesday -
Work - time out to go to my trainer. Yeah some sanity.
Back to work and then my craziness startes.
Pick up middle kidlet from high school from after school club and home to pick up the kidlets so they can get to their job as student aides in religious school. They finish at 6. I take middle kidlet out to Panera for dinner while the youngest has Hebrew class. Return and drop off middle kidlet and take youngest to get some pizza for dinner while middle kidlet has Hebrew class. Return to pick up middle kidlet and get home just before 9.

Thursday -
Work - get out in time to "leisurely" drive youngest to violin lessons. Home, have dinner and take middle kidlet to work on college apps - have to get there via outer Mongolia to avoid the masses coming to the football game at Rutgers. Home for the night by 9.

Major carpooling is done for the week. :)

This week should be less, I hope. One kink will be that on Wednesday the kidlets will have to wait for me to pick them up after their Hebrew classes because it is Back to School for the youngest. Hopefully the evening won't be too long.

Week that was.. enough to make me tired again

To have a little understanding of the craziness of life with carpooling -

Monday -
Work - try to leave by 4 end up leaving at 5:10. Did I mention Rutgers is back? Yes, add that into a piece of the craziness. Need to get home, pick up middle kidlet and get to E.B. for his SAT prep. Getting home should be a 15 - 20 minute without rush hour and university traffic. I call middle kidlet and ask that he start walking to meet me so I don't have to go all the way home. I zigzag home and turn around and plan my route to E.B. (in rush hour traffic.) I am good and he's only 6 minutes late. Helps knowing those sneaky back roads. Did I mention at lunchtime I drive to E.B. to get work papers signed for middle kidlet. Pats back.

Tuesday -
Work - get a call from middle kidlet. Missed his bus because he was getting the work papers finalized. Not to worry - mom leaves work early drives to the h.s. Decides that we'll drive out to E.B. to drop off said work papers. Get middle one to the temple for his teaching aide job by 4 p.m. After work we head home to pick up pizza and I'm off to a meeting.

Rest of the week coming up in the next post off to Saturday evening dinner.

Weekend... relaxation what a concept

What a week. So far my working around 30 hours helping fill the void in my office is not working... more like 40 + hours. Does make for a nice pay check and lots of stress.

This coming week I must be "myself" for most of it to get MY work done. This doesn't count the fact I am doing leg work to make sure things run smoothly in the office. Let's see a letter to apologize for a mistake in printing - research for old files - checking off all the HH items that must be done. Trivial and easy as pie. No wonder I'm not sleeping well.

On the plus side dh will be home this week. I'm not sure we'll know what to do with him home all week. Maybe I'll be wishing for that bi-coastal commute by the end of the week - joking.

This will make our morning routine and evening routine off a beat. On the plus side I'll be able to run in the morning before work if I want. Getting more exercise in should help my stress level. I am a happier person when I know I'm not being a slug.

I was informed by my trainer NOT to count walking on the weekend as my aerobic activity. Waves arms in the air - I was good and ran my 1.6 mile course which was JUST 20 minutes. The amount of time I'm suppose to do both Saturday and Sunday. Hmmm... maybe I can put off Sunday's run and do it Monday or Tuesday since dh will be home. I was a basket case when I got to my training midweek last week. I felt much better getting my tush kicked back into gear. One of the reasons I'm treating myself to seeing her twice a week.

No evening meetings this coming week - only running for the kidlets - SAT prep, college apps prep, kids' work, violin lessons, Hebrew class - I'm making myself tired by looking at the list.

Thursday is off to Union to get senior portraits for our middle one. SIGH. Yes, if we had been thinking we could have had the information in June and most likely had the pictures taken at the high school. So much for being prepared. Shrug. I'm hoping that there isn't a lot of traffic for a 9:30am appointment.

Youngest has outgrown 14's and will move up to the 16's that we have tucked away. We weren't sure if a growth spurt would occur in OZ so the clothing traveled to Oz and back. Last weekend I went shopping with middle kidlet because new jeans were needed. The old ones were too big. Wow.. sounds funny when you think about growing children. Can't have jeans falling off in school.

All school supplies seem to done for the time being. Oh.. but this week we have to buy a magazine with liquor ads for youngest's health project. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find liquor ads in magazines. Seems that they have cut back on their advertising. We found a cooking magazine that had some ads.

Life in the fast lane? There are times dh and I look at each other and wish for Oz. Life was much quieter. No running to meetings, lessons, and classes - time to take leisurely walks on weekends - concerts in the park during the summer. We realize that we talk about Oz most days.

New Blog

Yes, as if I need another place I don't keep up. I'm going to keep our Oz blog to post pictures as I have time to but needed a blog to just post about the ups and downs and even the sideways happenings in our life back in the States.

Yes, I have an lj on livejournal.com but I can easily link this blog with with my gmail - trying to streamline my life.

I will also try to post pictures of our random trips.